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* "All Eyes on Hanoi: South Africa, the only country that built and voluntarily gave up nuclear weapons" video page & transcript (2019-02-27, news.cgtn.com/news/3045444d32494464776c6d636a4e6e62684a4856/share_p.html) [archive.is/TG6vU]:
Only one country in the world has ever built nuclear weapons, and then voluntarily relinquished them - South Africa. In the 1970's, the South African apartheid government built its own nuclear weapons. But the country dismantled the bombs and abandoned the program in the late 80s, just before the system gave way to democracy. CGTN's Yolisa Njamela reports.
The government of South Africa began a nuclear weapons program in the 1970s. It would later acknowledge completing six nuclear warheads. But with the white minority-led government under serious international pressure, it became the first country to voluntarily give up its nuclear program.
YOLISA NJAMELA JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA "It was in 1989, before the anticipated changeover to a majority elected government when the government halted its nuclear weapons program and dismantled existing weapons and production equipment."
The nuclear explosives are locked here, in a former silver vault at the Pelindaba Nuclear Research Center.
Pelindaba is operated by the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation. It was here, where South Africa's atomic weapons under apartheid were developed, built and stored. The government destroyed the bombs before admitting they even existed.
In 1991, the then president, F.W. de Klerk acknowledged that South Africa had created and destroyed the weapons.
NOMALIZO XHOMA EDUCATION AND OUTREACH OFFICER, EARTHLIFE AFRICA "They signed the treaty, the proliferation treaty that says as South Africans, what we will be doing with our nuclear, we will only be producing electricity, it will be only for medical use. We won't be producing the weapons."
Over the years, some of the items have been used to make medical isotopes, but roughly 220 kilograms remain, and South Africa is keeping a tight grip on it.
Earthlife Africa is a non-profit organization, founded in Johannesburg. It's a non-nuclear group that has been at the forefront of nuclear-related issues since its formation three decades ago.
NOMALIZO XHOMA EDUCATION AND OUTREACH OFFICER, EARTHLIFE AFRICA "Nuclear is not a way to go as a country due to the environmental degradation. We know that when we talk about nuclear, we start talking mining. If we're going to say okay, let's mine uranium in South Africa, let's build nuclear power, that means we are not considerating the safety of the people and the environment at large. Even for the economy, we can't afford that as South Africa and Africa as a whole."
The existence of the nuclear explosives is still viewed by some Western governments as suspicious.
In 2007, there was a robbery at the Pelindaba Nuclear Research Center, the location of the dismantled nuclear weapons. South African officials dismissed this as a minor, bungled burglary.
But some Western governments remained apprehensive. Concerned that the suspects could have been looking for the weapons.
Earthlife Africa remains at the forefront of activism against nuclear use. It calls for decommissioning old power stations in a move to reduce pollution.
NOMALIZO XHOMA EDUCATION AND OUTREACH OFFICER, EARTHLIFE AFRICA "It's only the will you know, if government and the political will that can push this renewable energy. It won't just be of benefit to us as people but also the benefit of the environment."
For now, South Africa has two nuclear reactors. They generate five percent of the country's electricity.
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* (2013-02-10) [archive.is/2Wn1C]: The man who saved the world... 50 years ago, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, second-in-command Vasilli Arkhipov of the Soviet submarine B-59 refused to agree with his Captain's order to launch nuclear torpedos against US warships and setting off what might well have been a terminal superpower nuclear war.
The US had been dropping depth charges near the submarine in an attempt to force it to surface, unaware it was carrying nuclear arms. The Soviet officers, who had lost radio contact with Moscow, concluded that World War 3 had begun, and two of the officers agreed to 'blast the warships out of the water'. Arkhipov refused to agree - unanimous consent of three officers was required - and thanks to him, we are here to talk about it.
His story is finally being told - the BBC is airing a documentary on it.
Raise a glass to Vasilli Arkhipov - the Man Who Saved the World.
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* "Pope to open secret archives of wartime pontiff, shedding light on Vatican’s Holocaust actions" (2019-03-04, rt.com/news/452968-pope-open-secret-holocaust-archives-pius/) [archive.is/U0dwV]
* "Nazi whitewash gathers momentum as memory of the Holocaust fades; With the horrors of the Holocaust a distant memory, and many Canadians no longer aware of the crimes that took place in the name of the Third Reich, an opening has emerged for those who want to rewrite the history of Adolf Hitler’s regime and those who served it" (2019-02-25, ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/nazi-whitewash-gathers-momentum-as-memory-of-the-holocaust-fades) [archive.fo/9KWEb] [begin excerpt]: A movement is afoot to claim that the Nazi collaborators and the SS units made up of Ukrainians, Latvians and other eastern Europeans, were actually nationalistic heroes and in no way associated with the Nazis. I have written a number of articles exposing the role of these collaborators in the Holocaust and their complicity in murdering tens of thousands of Jewish men, women and children.
I have received emails from Ukrainians and Latvians who claim the Holocaust never took place. Others write that while Jews were indeed killed, they deserved the death and destruction the Nazis brought down on their communities.
And then there are others who claim that journalists who write articles about the Ukrainian and Latvian SS units – and the parades that are held in those nations to this day honouring these Nazi collaborators – are “pro-Russian” or somehow spouting Kremlin propaganda.
I’ve had the distinction of being singled out as such in a recent report on Russian disinformation by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute of Ottawa, a right-wing think-tank.
The report’s author, Marcus Kolga, claims my articles about the role of Ukrainians and Latvians in the Holocaust and their service in SS units has parroted the Kremlin’s narrative and has “been critical of Canada’s support for states targeted by Kremlin aggression.”
For starters, the articles I have written about Ukrainian and Latvian Nazis who butchered Jews don’t even mention Canada’s support for those two countries, let criticize that support.
My articles are about those who would deny that Ukrainians, Latvians, and others from eastern Europe eagerly participated in the Holocaust and supported Adolf Hitler. The articles also expose those who would declare these Nazi collaborators as some kind of heroes.
To be sure, the Ukrainian and Latvian governments were not happy about my articles, considering they exposed their nations’ dark past in supporting the wholesale slaughter of Jews.
And the Macdonald-Laurier Institute has received funding from the Latvian Ministry of Defence. In addition, the Embassy of Latvia in Canada has also provided sponsorship for the institute.
What is going on in Latvia and the Ukrainian and other east European nations is a Nazi whitewash designed to rehabilitate those from these countries who took part in some of the most heinous crimes in history.
Here’s how it works.
Ukrainian and Latvian militia and police units were among the most brutal in helping the Nazis hunt down and murder Jewish men, women and children.
They were good at killing defenceless people. So good, that the Holocaust Chronicle, published in 2003 and written by 7 top scholars in the field of Holocaust studies, noted that Ukrainians were also sent to help kill Jews during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in April 1943. The Chronicle published a photo of two of Ukrainian SS members standing over the bodies of Jews murdered during that uprising. See the photo below:
SS General Jurgen Stroop, later executed as a war criminal, was very pleased with the Ukrainian, Latvian and Lithuanian volunteers who helped him and his men murder and hunt down 56,000 Jews. In his diary Stroop wrote that these killers were not only “nationalists and anti-Semites” but among his best troops. They were “wild at heart and with a tendency towards base things. But nevertheless obedient,” Stroop gushed about his Ukrainian, Latvian and Lithuanian killers.
The Ukrainian militias who murdered Jews in the ghetto and elsewhere went on to serve in a new SS unit created by the Nazis, the 14th SS Galizien Division. Stroop was brought on as an advisor to the newly created division.
A similar development happened in Latvia. The members of Latvia’s Arajs Kommando, who had killed an estimated 26,000 Jews for the Nazis, went on to serve in the Latvian SS legion.
These SS units were sent to fight the Russians as they closed in on the Third Reich.
Decades later the whitewash began. The Ukrainians and Latvians who fought for the SS – as the whitewash explains – weren’t really Nazis. They instead were nationalists fighting for their own country against the Russians. And of course none of them committed any type of crime, or so the whitewash explains, carefully ignoring the previous role of the individual members in these SS units in the mass murder of tens of thousands of Jews.
Last year, Karlis Eihenbaums, Latvia’s Ambassador to Canada, launched an attack on Canadian journalist Scott Taylor who wrote about the Latvian Legion (15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian) et al) and Latvian killers like war criminal Herberts Cukurs as well as the members of the Arajs Kommando. Like the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Eihenbaums suggested such articles were “fake news” and “disinformation.” And like the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Eihenbaums tried to smear the journalist by suggesting he was under the “influence” of the Russian government. Eihenbaums also targeted my articles.
As I have written before, the eager participation of some Latvians in the Holocaust is not “fake news.” It is a well-documented historical fact that many of the killers from the Arajs Kommando went to the Latvian Legion. These Latvians, Ukrainians, Estonians and others from eastern Europe nations served Hitler and his war aims. No number of claims of “fake news” can change that fact.
These days there are parades in Latvia and Ukraine to honour these SS units who fought under the Swastika. These parades and memorials, which have attracted the support of Neo-Nazis and other fascist groups, have long been controversial and questioned by many throughout Europe. See the photo below and note the white pride shirt on the young Ukrainian with the Ukrainian SS veteran.
For instance, the controversy over the Latvian Legion and the annual parade held in Riga (each March) to celebrate these Nazi collaborators is well known and has been going on for two decades, long before the term “fake news” was even coined. In 1998 the parade caused a storm of protests around the world, particularly in Israel, where Holocaust survivors couldn’t understand Latvia’s desire to celebrate such ruthless killers. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and French President Jacques Chirac were among those that year to protest the Latvian parade. The Times of Israel reported on last year’s Latvian SS parade in Riga, which took place mid-March.
So much for “fake news.” Did Helmut Kohl and Jacques Chirac spread Russian “disinformation” when they denounced the SS parade in Latvia? Of course not.
This whole issue isn’t about “fake news” or Russian “disinformation.” It is about individuals and nations trying to whitewash their Nazi collaboration and rewrite history, while attacking journalists and other organizations who don’t want to let that happen.
While the Macdonald-Laurier report carefully ignores the crimes of Ukrainians and Latvians who supported Hitler’s Third Reich and butchered Jewish men, women and children by the thousands, there are those in the U.S. Congress and Jewish community speaking out against the Nazi whitewash.
In late April 2018 more than 50 members of the U.S. Congress condemned the government of Ukraine’s ongoing efforts to glorify “Nazi collaborators.”
The letter, signed by both Republicans and Democrats, outlined concerns about ongoing ceremonies to glorify leaders of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army as well as 14th SS Galizien Division (aka 1stGalician/Galizien or the 1st Ukrainian Division). “It’s particularly troubling that much of the Nazi glorification in Ukraine is government-supported,” noted the letter to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan. The letter was initiated by Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna of California and David Cicilline of Rhode Island.
In the summer of 2018 B’nai Brith Canada’s chief executive officer Michael Mostyn called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to use his trip to Latvia that year to push back against that country’s glorification of Nazi collaborators as well as attempts to deny the nation’s role in the Holocaust.
Mostyn called on the Canadian government to speak out more forcefully to denounce parades in Latvia and other eastern European nations that honour units who fought with the Nazis during the Second World War.
“We must challenge all those who distort the historical record on governments, military units or organizations that fought with, supported or sympathized with the Nazis during World War II,” Mostyn wrote to Trudeau. “This includes government leaders who acquiesce in, or fail to condemn, a process of Nazi glorification that amounts to Holocaust distortion.”
“Those who glorify the record of such organizations or units cannot dismiss criticism as ‘fake news’ “, added Mostyn. “The fact is that some organizations and their leaders, now glorified for their fight against the Soviet army, were also involved in atrocities against Jewish civilians or embraced ideologies that were deeply anti-Semitic and perpetuated social hostility towards their Jewish populations. This is why B’nai Brith rejects any efforts to constrain historians and the media from researching what happened and publicly explaining it in an objective manner.”
These are words that those at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute should pay attention to.
Mostyn letter is here: "An Open Letter to PM Trudeau: Canada Must Counter the Glorification of Nazis in European NATO Countries" (2018-07-04, bnaibrith.ca/canada_must_counter_the_glorification_of_nazis_in_european_nato_countries) [archive.is/tjYbl]
* "Confession of a Captured German Soldier: We Killed, And Our Propagandists Filmed It And Pinned the Blame on the Russians" (2019-02-28, stalkerzone.org/confession-of-a-captured-german-soldier-we-killed-and-our-propagandists-filmed-it-and-pinned-the-blame-on-the-russians/) [archive.is/JiI3c]:
In today’s era of so-called “fake news” and deplorable standards of journalism, where one can cite “anonymous sources” and disseminate totally false information at will without facing any consequences, it is important to remember that this trend in the West didn’t just appear in the last decade. Indeed, it has a precedent and remains “in the family”. If in 2014 America accused Russia of “invading” Ukraine without presenting any proof whatsoever, then in 1943 Nazi Germany – one of the many bastard children spawned by these same Anglo-Saxons – had no problem with accusing the USSR of committing the very crimes it itself had committed.
The following text, from the “Messages Of The Soviet Information Bureau. January-June 1943”, which is stored in the Russian Presidential Library, serves as a poignant example of how low such anti-Russia falsehoods can stoop.
‘During my service in the German army I visited Holland, Belgium, France, and Russia. I saw how the German soldiers plundered the civilian population and killed civilians. The German officers treated the population brutally and savagely everywhere.
Before the campaign to Russia soldiers were told that they should not spare any of the civilian population, regardless of their gender and age. Officers said: ‘The more ruthless you act, the sooner the Russians will crawl at our feet’.
Already immediately after the invasion it was possible to see terrific scenes. Soldiers set fire to whole villages. The inhabitants running in panic were shot from machine guns, without taking into account at all that among them there were women and children. Murdering civilians was called ‘cleaning up’ and cleansing’ the area of operations.
One SS battalion that received the task of cleaning the vicinity of Kiev shot several tens of thousands of people, including many women and children. Even seasoned SS-men felt bad, and some of them were not able to continue the massacre. Then officers, in order to finish the destruction of a huge mass of people, ordered to herd everyone into mined ditches and blow them up.
Propaganda companies photographed these heaps of corpses, they filmed them and made movies. Then all the movie theaters of Germany and the countries of Europe occupied by it showed these movies for a long time and advertised it as ‘the atrocities of Russians’.
Photos of corpses were published in all German newspapers, and these murders were represented as the atrocities of Soviet troops. Here we, soldiers, knew that German propaganda was deceiving millions of people, attributing to Russians the wild crimes and atrocities committed by the German troops on Russian territory’.”
- video [https://youtu.be/6pcMdCkgVAo]: On July 17th 1944, 57,000 German PoW officers and soldiers were taken along the streets of Moscow in a column. 19 generals at the head of the column led their defeated army. They passed through Moscow, which they had hoped to enter as the winners, past the people who were supposed to be destroyed.
* "Spanish Media Took Pity on Nazi Soldiers Killed by the Red Army in Berlin" (2019-03-04, stalkerzone.org/spanish-media-took-pity-on-nazi-soldiers-killed-by-the-red-army-in-berlin/) [archive.is/Rc4Y0]
* "The “Heroes” of UPA Sawed Prisoners Like Logs" (2019-02-27, stalkerzone.org/the-heroes-of-upa-sawed-prisoners-like-logs/) [archive.is/xFcEQ]:
“Let him thumb through the pages about Bandera and UPA – here there are all the answers to our current successes. Let him learn", said Poroshenko”
Thus, the Ukrainian historian Miroslava Berdnik decided to thumb through them again for additional clarity…
I will offer a reminder about the old publication of Oles Buzina on the website of the “Segodnya” newspaper, which was already deleted by the newspaper in an act of “self-correction”, where he quotes documents from the collection of documents about the OUN Security Service entitled “Insurgent intelligence operates precisely and courageously”:
“HEROES OF UPA SAWED PRISONERS LIKE LOGS
It is worth glancing at the archives and special publications so that the real face of those for who ‘Glory to heroes!’ is shouted appears in all its beauty. Here are only a few facts that I dug up from recently published book of D. Vedeneyev and G. Bystrukhin with the ironic name ‘Insurgent intelligence operates precisely and courageously…’ It has the subtitle ‘Documentary heritage of special purpose units of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army’. Everything is only on the basis of facts from the SBU archives!
We will begin with an excerpt from the document of Soviet bodies of state security about the use of torture by Banderists: ‘August 4th 1948 … the geologists working on the territory of the Stanislav region Balashova Nataliya – 1921 year of birth, a native and resident of Moscow, member of the CPSU – and Rybkin Leonid – 1925 year of birth, a native and resident of Moscow, member of All-Union Leninist Young Communist League – were captured and brutally tortured to death’. The corpses of two Soviet activists captured in June 1945 by fighters of UPA ‘bore traces of sadistic mockery’, their arms and legs ‘were twisted and broken, their eyes are gouged out, their hair had been pulled out’. By the way, one of the persons killed in such an original way was a woman. And one more died on 07.08.1948 after a three-day interrogation ‘about the horizontal and vertical structure of the party and Komsomol’, having refused to answer. However, even if she had answered, they all the same would’ve killed her. UPA didn’t have any other measures of punishment besides execution. But the latter had an incredible quantity of options!
SAW AND AXE. As the special message of the NKGB UkrSSR of 1944 says:
‘The investigative and punitive practice of the ‘Security Service’, being one of the kinds of terror that is carried out by OUN-UPA, has a character surpassing the middle ages in terms of its vileness. So-called ‘clamping’: when the interrogated person’s head is tied with a thin belt or strong twine and it is then gradually wound with a stick until the skull cracks, or their heels are cauterised, or they are beaten up – such is the method of investigation used by the ‘Security Service’ of OUN-UPA. Hanging, murders of the suspected people and their families, including mothers, wives, and children via an axe, sawing with a saw – this is usually how the verdicts made by the investigators of the police executive bodies of the ‘Security Service’ of OUN-UPA were implemented’.
This was written not at all in a propagandist document, but in a closed classified document of the Soviet Ministry of State Security. And here is an excerpt from the instruction for fighters of a special subunit of UPA dated this same 1944 that confirms this:
‘There aren’t any religious or behavioural morals in intelligence work. Here there is one goal – to achieve success in the interest of the result, which is dictated by the fight and success… for the sake of success it is necessary to sacrifice our honour, to use such methods as blackmail, deception, treachery, theft, lying, etc. For the good of the cause, even the most shameful act is moral and it justifies everything.’
If the known novel of Henryk Sienkiewicz is called ‘With Fire and Sword’, the saga about the feats of the favourites of Viktor Andreevich (Yushchenko) can quite be entitled ‘A Saw and an Axe’. Let him read it! Maybe it will do him some good!
One of the ‘heroes’ of UPA – Leniv, nickname Rezunchik – during an interrogation on August 20th 1951 admitted:
‘During elimination the most brutal ways of destruction were used: hanging, slow suffocation, burning alive on a camp fire, murder with cutting objects … About 200 people who were suspected of having ties with Ministry of State Security bodies, or members of OUN suspected of betraying OUN were destroyed with my participation. I don’t remember all of these cases of destruction of these persons, however I can recount them in an investigation. Thus, in August-September 1946, when our Security Service unit was deployed in the village of Topilsk in the Pereginsky district of the Stanislav region, to heads of a bandboyevka … ‘OMELKO’ (who was killed in 1947), suspected a girl nicknamed ‘CHARIVNA’, who was the courier of the Pereginsky regional unit of OUN – ‘SHERSHEN’ – of having ties with Ministry of State Security bodies. After the interrogations, which were accompanied by various atrocities, ‘CHARIVNA’ didn’t testify about her ties with Ministry of State Security bodies, however, despite this, the commandant of the unit, ‘OMELKO’, ordered to hang her’.
AGAINST EVERYONE AND ITSELF. Most likely, the poor girl was killed absolutely in vain. Simply because of paranoid suspicion. But UPA had extremely primitive methods of investigation. The semiliterate natives of the rural areas of Galicia and Volyn, who made up the main staff of the insurgents, weren’t fond of deductive methods. Their principle was – it’s better to shoot ten innocent people in order to punish one guilty person. If there were no ‘materials’ against the person captured by UPA guys, i.e., denunciations, then such an arrested person was sometimes released, and being beaten up during interrogation was counted as ‘punishment for being suspected of activity against OUN’.
Imagine, you are suspected of something by UPA. And according to their logic, you are guilty! Even the Gestapo didn’t go so far!
The insurgent army fought against everyone and even itself. On its conscience there is the well-known ‘Volyn massacre‘ of 1943-1944, when on the territory of this region all ethnic Poles were destroyed. Banderists slashed them by whole villages – like how the natives in the Congo now kill each other. Viktor Yushchenko tries to mobilise this horrible past today in vain. One only needs to dig a little bit, and such a trace will go for miles … Such bloody devils will rise from graves that not only (Tony) Blair won’t want to meet (Yushchenko), but it will be impossible to go to the neighbouring Poland to see Kachinsky. What reconciliation it is possible to speak about if the physical destruction of competing nationalist organisations – the Ukrainian People’s Revolutionary Army of Ataman Bulba-Borovtsa and activists of Melnik’s wing of OUN became the beginning of the fighting activity of the formations of Bandera. And even later the field commanders of UPA quite often staged infighting between themselves. For example, in 1948 two regional branches of OUN clashed – the unit of Yanishevsky nicknamed ‘Dalekiy’ and the unit of Kozak nicknamed ‘Smok’, the inventor of the especially sophisticated system of torture ‘stanok’. The result of feuds – 120 killed heroes of UPA.
‘Veteran’ in Latin means ‘experienced’. We are simply obliged to know and study all the ‘experiences’ of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.”
I want to show you WHO sawed people. Here is a photo of a young cutie – investigator of the OUN Security Service in “Yunak” magazine:
* "Remains of hundreds of Jews unearthed in Nazi-era mass grave in Belarus" (2019-02-27, news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d414d3163544f32457a6333566d54/index.html) [archive.is/ILo2W]
* "The Polish President Andrzej Duda Accused UPA & the SS “Galicia” Division of Committing Genocide Against the Poles" (2019-02-25, stalkerzone.org/the-polish-president-andrzej-duda-accused-upa-the-ss-galicia-division-of-committing-genocide-against-the-poles/) [archive.is/If32v]
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Raise higher the banner of Leninism, the banner of the international proletarian revolution, 1932. Artist: Kochergin, Nikolai Mikhaylovich (1897-1974). Found in the collection of the Russian State Library, Moscow.
* "To the 66th Anniversary of Stalin's murder" (by Yu.I. Mukhin, ymuhin.ru/node/1910/k-66-letiyu-ubiystva-stalina) [archive.is/ht0hQ], (machine translation, translate.google.com) [archive.is/5cSZ0]
[begin excerpt]:
True, today many, as they call themselves, “independent thinkers” historians and publicists no longer doubt that Stalin and Beria were killed. These are A. Fursov, and A. Khazin, and many others, but they still have the standard “struggle for power” spell as versions of the event, and those who propagate as the most terrible monster or, in the opinion of these researchers who most “craved power”. Here you are as a murderer and L. Beria, appointed by the real murderer of Stalin, Khrushchev, as the main ghoul of the USSR, and even never accused of being independent G. Malenkov.Not only I, but also my comrades, are trying to explain to such historians and publicists why Stalin, in fact, was killed by the nomenklatura - the elite of the then USSR (since she agreed with his murder). We are trying to explain that the elite killed the leader for the fact that Stalin took away from the party and handed over to the entire people of the USSR the full power in the USSR. [...]
Yes, these “professionals” are well aware of the words “the Central Committee, the Politburo, the secretaries, the bureau, the apparatus, the Council of Ministers or the ministers”. And can write long texts using these words. However, the “professionals” know only that behind these words are some high-ranking officials, but these “professionals don’t even imagine how it works.”
And when I write that at the XIX Congress of the CPSU (b) (CPSU), Stalin deprived the party of power, and deprived him of the fact that he had only abolished the Politburo and the Orgburo in the party and replaced them with the Presidium, then for me and my comrades it makes sense, but for “professional” historians and publicists - no! For them, these words are, at best, of vague meaning.
Here I will try to explain this with such a hypothetical example. Suppose, at the end of 1952, for the solution of a state problem, I urgently needed to build a power station, and the State Planning Committee believed that I could suffer, and did not give me any money or resources to build it.
Until the XIX Congress of the CPSU (b) - until October 1952 - I would write a letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) and take measures so that the staff of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) would give positive conclusions to this letter and bring my request to the Politburo. - the main authority in the USSR.
And after the XIX Congress of the CPSU (b) and before Stalin’s death, I would write a letter to the Council of Ministers and take measures so that the Council of Ministers employees give positive conclusions to this letter and bring it up for consideration at a meeting of the Council of Ministers.
In these few months - from the XIX Congress of the CPSU (b) to the death of Stalin - it was useless to contact the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Either I would return this appeal with the words that it was not a question of the Central Committee, or they themselves would send my request to the Council of Ministers. After the XIX Congress of the CPSU (b) and before Stalin’s death, to turn to the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU with a question about the construction of a power station was tantamount to an appeal to the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church.
Why did Stalin do this, why did he deprive the party of state power? Prior to the XIX Congress of the CPSU (b), the highest authority was the Politburo, and the Politburo elected the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), and the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) elected only the PARTY - about 4 million citizens from all over the USSR. In the USSR there was the power of the party, not the power of all, not the power of the commune. With the power of the party, it was impossible to build communism. This is not communism, but some kind of partisans.
And the Council of Ministers elected the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and the Supreme Council of the USSR elected ALL PEOPLE. This power of the people, this power of all — the power of the commune — this is communism. By abolishing the Politburo, Stalin left the entire power of the government only to the PEOPLE! Only commune! But the party was left, so to speak, "spiritual" activity - the propaganda of communism and the selection of personnel - the CPSU became a secular equivalent of the ruling church.
That was the case - Stalin deprived the state power of all the purely party nomenclature, the purely party elite. And she is not in order, she turned to the party to stay outside the state feeder!
Look at what members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), and then the members of the CPSU Presidium Kaganovich and Khrushchev, before the CPSU elite — all members of the Central Committee — blamed their colleague Beria at the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee held from July 2 to July 7, 1953.
Innocently, without tricks, the formula of the accusation Beria was formulated by Kaganovich: “The party is above all for us. No one is allowed when this scoundrel says: Central Committee - cadres and propaganda. Not political leadership, not leadership of all life, as we Bolsheviks understand . ” Khrushchev could not get around this topic: “Remember, then Rakoshi said: I would like to know what is being decided in the Council of Ministers and what is in the Central Committee, what the distinction should be ... Beria then said disparagingly: that the Central Committee, let Sovmin decide, let the Central Committee cadres and propaganda .
For our "professionals" of history and journalism, the minutes of this plenum have been available for 30 years, but what is the use of this? They are familiar with all the words from the above quotations, but these “professionals” do not understand what their colleague Kaganovich and Khrushchev were accused of, and on the basis of what Beria began to demand that the party elite not interfere in government. They do not understand that Beria was not capricious, but insisted on the execution of the decisions of the XIX Party Congress - he demanded that the party elite comply with its new Charter!
And, of course, after the assassination of Stalin and Beria, the state power was returned to the party — first, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU assumed the functions of the Politburo, and then the Politburo itself was restored.
It was to conceal this crime against the CPSU Charter, at the ensuing XX Congress of the CPSU, Stalin was spat and, accordingly, even hints in the USSR that Stalin was killed and not died a natural death were impossible. [end excerpt]
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* (delokrat.org) [archive.is/4PAlT]
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* "Holodomor Hoax: West's 'Golden Embargo' and Soviet Famine of 1932-33; In an exclusive interview with Sputnik, Russian economist, author and politician Nikolai Starikov shared his views on the controversy surrounding the famine of 1932-33 in the USSR and shed some light on the Western anti-Soviet sanctions policy in the early 1930s" (2015-11-12, by Ekaterina Blinova, sputniknews.com/russia/201511121029956744-holodomor-hoax-ussr-ukraine-starikov/) [archive.is/voMTS]:
The disastrous famine of 1932-33 in the USSR, used by the West as a bludgeon against the Soviet Union during the Cold War era, should not be taken out of the surrounding historical context.
The famine, later heavily politicized and groundlessly dubbed "Holodomor," is only a part of the story of the young Soviet state and the hardships it faced after the First World War.
Hit severely by World War I and exhausted by civil war and foreign intervention, the Soviet state had to rebuild its industry and modernize its agricultural sector to survive and improve the living conditions of the Soviet people.
West's "Golden Blockade" and Stalin's "Piatiletki"
Western governments were initially hostile to the Soviet leadership and refused to recognize the new state. After the Entente intervention ingloriously failed, the Western powers – most notably Britain, France and the United States – tried to take over the USSR through economic pressure.
"In that period of time the Soviet leadership was focused on creating industries the Soviet state lacked. In order to accomplish the task, the Kremlin implemented so-called "piatiletki" ("five-year plans"). In fact the solution of the problem was divided into two phases: firstly, [the Soviet leadership planned] to construct new industrial facilities, secondly, to sharply increase the crop production through the use of farm machinery and then pay for new foreign equipment by money earned through agricultural exports," Nikolai Starikov, Russian economist, author and politician, told Sputnik.
"And here the West had made an attempt to catch the Soviet Union out," the author remarked.
"In 1925 a so-called "golden blockade" was imposed on the USSR: the Western powers refused to accept gold as payment for industrial equipment they delivered to Russia. All of a sudden they demanded that the Soviet government pay for the equipment in timber, oil and grain," Starikov emphasized.
Western governments explained that their decision was triggered by the Bolsheviks' refusal to pay the Russian Empire's debts.
But that is not all: in the early 1930s major Western powers – the United States, France and Britain – placed an embargo on trade with the Soviet Union and refused to sell anything to the USSR for everything but GRAIN.
"Imagine, the Soviet Union had been "caught" amid an all-out effort to rebuild and modernize its industrial basis," Starikov elaborated, "however, since then the equipment (the USSR had a crying need for) could be bought for grain only."
Vicious Cycle of Famine and Soviet Agriculture
But what about Russia's agricultural sector at that time?
It is worth mentioning that since the end of 19th century the Russian Empire had been suffering from repeated famines. Furthermore, during the First World War the area of Russia's cultivated lands had diminished significantly.
In the 1920s, Russia, including the territory of modern Ukraine, was struck by a series of famines, occurring every two to four years. The proponents of the so-called "Holodomor" concept (an idea that the Soviet government deliberately organized the devastating famine of 1932-33) usually ignore the fact that the Soviet Union had gone through severe famines in 1920-21, 1924, 1927 and 1928.
"The year of the two Russian revolutions, 1917, saw a serious crop failure leading to urban famine in 1917-18. In the 1920s the USSR had a series of famines: in 1920-23 in the Volga and Ukraine plus one in western Siberia in 1923; in the Volga and Ukraine again in 1924-25, and a serious and little-studied famine in Ukraine in 1928," Professor Grover Carr Furr of Montclair State University wrote in his book "Blood Lies: The Evidence that Every Accusation Against Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union in Timothy Snyder's Bloodlands Is False," quoting research works by Prof. Mark B. Tauger, a renowned expert on famine.
The famines, caused by then Russia's agricultural backwardness, natural disasters and the wars' long-term effects, were a part of a broader food supply problem in post-WWI Russia.
Then, the question arises: were Western powers aware of the USSR's desperate need for grain when they imposed sanctions on the Soviet Union demanding grain as the only means of payment?
"Of course, Western political elites knew about that problem," Nikolai Starikov told Sputnik, commenting on the issue.
"In fact the West's demand that the Soviet Union should pay in grain for Western supplies could have led to the further deficit in grain in the USSR," the economist underscored.
Starikov explained that having no other instruments to overthrow the undesirable Communist regime, Western political and financial elites planned to instigate the internal unrest through, in particular, the artificial deficit of food in the Soviet state. The need to use grain as a means of payment also bolstered Soviet collectivization, according to the economist.
In his book "Crisis: How is It Organized" ("Krizis: Kak Eto Delayetsya," 2009) Nikolai Starikov called attention to the fact that the West's "sanctions war" against the Soviet Union coincided with the Great Depression.
The embargo imposed on the USSR by Western governments dealt a severe blow to Western-Soviet trade. The economist emphasized that the move contradicted the best interests of Western producers, hit by the recession of the early 1930s.
There is nothing new under the sun: while imposing anti-Russian economic sanctions in 2014, Western political elites have again completely ignored the interests of their own national manufacturers and businesses.
Starikov underscored that the Western embargo could have been just one of a plethora of factors which lie at the root of the devastating famine of 1932-33 in the USSR.
However, the famine could by no means be called a deliberate attempt of the Soviet leadership to starve its population in Ukraine, the Volga region, North Caucasus or Kazakhstan to death in 1932-33. Soviet collectivization also could not be regarded as a trigger for the famine.
Stalin's Collectivization: Breaking the Vicious Circle
"The famines of the 1920s, and especially that of 1928, were the background, the immediate context, for the rapid and, in part, forced collectivization of agriculture," Grover Furr told Sputnik commenting on the matter.
"This cycle of famines is crucial because it allows us to see that collectivization did NOT "cause" the famine of '32-'33. Famines occurred regularly. As Tauger proves, and as I mention in "Blood Lies," the famine of '32-'33 had environmental causes, just like all the others for 1,000 years," the professor stressed.
"The only way to stop this thousand-year cycle of famines was to modernize agriculture. This was the great triumph of collectivization – that it put an end to this cycle of famines," he underscored.
Professor Furr pointed out that both the proponents of the "Holodomor" concept and those who reject the "Holodomor" but blame the famine on collectivization, never talk about this cycle of famines, or of the famines of the 1920s.
"The famine of 1932-33 was the LAST famine! It really was an immense triumph, which is denied only because it was accomplished by communists and by socialism, not by capitalists and capitalism," Professor Furr added.
According to Nikolai Starikov, the problem of the 1932-33 famine has become a highly politicized issue. Juggling with the numbers of the famine victims some policymakers miss the point: in the first place the famine of 1932-33 was a tragedy for millions of Soviet people of various ethnic groups.
Was it ethically appropriate to use this tragedy to drive a wedge between Russians and Ukrainians during the Cold War era? What had the Western political elite done to prevent or minimize the disaster? And who benefits from labeling the tragedy as "Stalin's killer famine" today?
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Kim Jong-un’s grandfather and Ho Chi Minh... leaders, along with Mao, of the anti-imperialist struggles in Asia...
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#WomensHistoryMonth
Salaria Kea was born on 13 July 1913 in Akron, OH. Orphaned as a young child, she and her brothers were raised by family friends and in foster homes. In high school, she decided to become a nurse but was denied admission to three schools because of her race.
She was eventually admitted to Harlem Hospital School of Nursing in NYC after Mrs. Firestone of Akron wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt on her behalf. After completing her training, she worked at Seaview Hospital in the tuberculosis ward.Kea recalled it being common for Black nurses to be forced to work in TB wards, where even supervisors refused to enter. Many contracted the illness themselves.
In the wake of floods in the Midwest, Kea tried to volunteer for the Red Cross. She was again refused because of her race. Being a devout Catholic, Kea felt it was important to work with the poor and the sick, and looked for other ways to contribute.
In 1935, Kea became involved with a group of Harlem medical professionals who were raising money for medical supplies after the fascist invasion of Ethiopia. Through this association, she met Dr. Arnold Donowa, a volunteer with the American Medical Bureau.
In March of 1937, Kea left for Spain aboard the SS Paris. She was assigned to the International Medical Unit at Villa Paz, in one of King Alfonso’s old summer homes. At Villa Paz, she met her husband, Pat O’Reilly, who had been wounded while serving with a British International unit.
Kea herself was wounded three times while in Spain. Eventually, she returned to the US and was reunited with her husband in late 1938. Back in NYC, Kea made several speeches on behalf of the Spanish Republic to a variety of groups including churches, the NAACP, and schools.
In later interviews, she didn't recall experiencing any anti-Catholic sentiments amongst Spanish Loyalists, remarking that the Loyalist weren’t “just Communists… I didn’t even know what a Communist was. I thought it was for white people only, like the Mafia.”
Kea served in Army Nurse Corps late into WWII. Her combat medicine experience from Spain made her extremely valuable to her unit. After the war, she and O’Reilly lived out their working life in NYC. Kea taught training classes for practical nurses and nurses’ aides.
They retired to Akron, OH in the 1970s. Kea passed away in 1991.
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* "Facts about Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso" (africa-facts.org/facts-about-thomas-sankara-in-burkina-faso/) [archive.is/3bPqk]
* "Thomas Sankara: The Upright Pan-Africanist" (2016-07-06, africanexponent.com/post/7492-the-revolution-and-womens-liberation-go-together) [archive.is/AoKvN]
* "Burkina Faso unveils Thomas Sankara’s majestic statue in Ouagadougou" (2019-03-02, face2faceafrica.com/article/burkina-faso-unveils-thomas-sankaras-majestic-statue-in-ouagadougou-photos) [archive.is/GaGVk]
- image caption: A bronze statue of Thomas Sankara, a former military ruler and revolutionary of Burkina Faso.
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* "Why the Nazis studied American race laws for inspiration" (2017-02-19, businessinsider.com/why-the-nazis-studied-american-race-laws-for-inspiration-2017-2) [archive.is/gBZKN]
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* "Destroying the Lie that Africa Didn't Fight Against Our Enslavement" (2019-03-01, abetterworld.me/blog/destroying-the-lie-that-africa-didnt-fight-against-our-enslavement) [archive.is/ve4FP]
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* "Ayatollah al-Hakim: Beacon of Iraqi people’s resistance; According to the lunar calendar date, this week coincides with the 16th death anniversary of senior Iraqi Shia Muslim cleric and political leader Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, who was assassinated in 2003 in the holy city of Najaf. He had devoted most of his life to opposing the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein and uniting the Iraqi nation" (2019-03-03, presstv.com/Detail/2019/03/03/590080/Ayatollah-Mohammad-Baqir-alHakim-Iraq-US-Saddam-Hussein) [archive.is/MJkAc]
- image caption: The file photo shows the late Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim.
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This statement from a New York Times article from 1981 is very surprising in its honestly. The author points out that Iraq was the most progressive Arab country in terms of women's rights, education, distribution of wealth and a "near-total lack of corruption in government." This says a lot because the rest of the article (as you can tell by the tittle) is not sympathetic to the Ba'athist government of Iraq at all.
Source: "How the Baath Rules Iraq: With a Very Tight Fist", 1981, Youssef M. Ibrahim, The New York Times
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* "William Samuel Henson 1812 - 1888" (1998. 2006, by Carroll Gray, flyingmachines.org/hens.html) [archive.is/srVO]:
William Samuel Henson was an engineer and inventor who was familiar with the aeronautical work of George Cayley. Discussions with his associate John Stringfellow led to his design for a large passenger-carrying steam-powered monoplane, with a wing span of 150 feet, named "ARIEL - The Henson Aerial Steam Carriage," for which he received a patent in 1843. Henson, Stringfellow and two others, Frederick Marriott and D. E. Colombine, incorporated the Aerial Transit Company in 1843, and fully intended to construct the flying machine. Henson had demonstrated a model of his design, which may or may not have made at least one tentative steam powered flight as it lifted, somewhat, off a wire guide. Numerous attempts to actually fly the large model (and an even larger model with a 20 foot wing span) were made between 1844 and 1847, but none of the attempts were successful. The Aerial Transit Company's publicist, Frederick Marriott, had a number of prints made in 1843 depicting the Aerial Steam Carriage over the pyramids in Egypt, in India, over London, England, and other places, which drew considerable interest from the press. Not all of the attention was approving, many in the press were extremely skeptical of the motives of the Aerial Transit Company, essentially raising questions of whether the group was a hoax or a fraud. This could have not been very welcome considering how seriously Henson and his group had taken the project and given that the model Aerial Steam Carriage had not performed as expected.- An Aerial Transit Company Print (cropped) Depicting The Aerial Steam Carriage "ARIEL" - 1843
- The Aerial Transit Company's Aerial Steam Carriage Depicted In Flight Over Egypt
- An Aerial Transit Company Pamphlet Regarding The Aerial Steam Carriage "ARIEL" - 1843
As can be seen in the illustrations below, quite detailed plans were drawn for the Aerial Steam Carriage and great consideration was given to a number of necessary elements, such as flight control and wing loading. The planned construction of the wings is particularly noteworthy for it set a pattern which was followed well into The Great War, WWI. The rectangular wings were curved, not flat, surfaces on the tops and bottoms, and were formed by wooden ribs attached to wooden spars (hollow cylinders which gradually tapered to the ends) and covered with fabric. They were braced, internally and externally, with wires. Henson's design was very influential and his detailed patent drawings contained a wealth of well-conceived and well-executed ideas for a flying machine. The Aerial Steam Carriage was also the first recognizably "modern" monoplane design, with a three-wheeled landing gear, and powered by two contra-rotating six-bladed propellers. While certain design elements, most notably the tail, were somewhat bird-like, the overall impression one has of the "ARIEL" is that it is a true flying machine, not an imitation of a bird. The Aerial Steam Carriage never took to the air, but it nonetheless registered firmly in the minds and imaginations of multitudes of people to became one of the strongest archetypal images of early aeronautics.
- Detail Of Patent Drawing Of The Aerial Steam Carriage - 1843
- Patent Drawing Of The Aerial Steam Carriage - 1843
- The Aerial Transit Company's Aerial Steam Carriage Depicted In Flight Over India. Note: The Launching Ramp On The Left And The Tower To Permit Passengers To Board.
- Exaggerated View Of The Henson Aerial Steam Carriage
The Aerial Transit Company never built the large version of the Aerial Steam Carriage, perhaps because of the disappointing experiments with the model craft and, perhaps, because of the expense involved. Henson, Stringfellow, Marriott and Colombine parted company. In 1848 William Henson and his wife, Sarah, left their native England and moved to the U.S., settling in Newark, New Jersey, where he spent the last 40 years of his life. Henson had apparently ceased his aerial research for good, and never again took up the matter. Henson, along with his wife and children, and other members of their family are buried in Orange, New Jersey.
* "La Machine A Vapeur Aërienne" lithograph (by De M. Henson, via airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/la-machine-vapeur-aërienne-de-m-henson) [archive.is/QNpFx]
* "William Samuel Henson and John Stringfellow" (ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/stringfellow.html) [archive.is/5HoTB] [begin excerpt]:
Their work is briefly described in a little pamphlet by F. J. Stringfellow, entitled A few Remarks on what has been done with screw-propelled Aero-plane Machines from 1809 to 1892. The author writes with regard to the work that his father and Henson undertook:--
"They commenced the construction of a small model operated by a spring, and laid down the larger model 20 ft. from tip to tip of planes, 3 1/2 ft. wide, giving 70 ft. of sustaining surface, about 10 more in the tail. The making of this model required great consideration; various supports for the wings were tried, so as to combine lightness with firmness, strength and rigidity. 'The planes were staid from three sets of fish-shaped masts, and rigged square and firm by flat steel rigging. The engine and boiler were put in the car to drive two screw-propellers, right and left-handed, 3 ft. in diameter, with four blades each, occupying three-quarters of the area of the circumference, set at an angle of 60 degrees." [...]
In the meantime an engine was also made for the smaller model, and a wing action tried, but with poor results. The time was mostly devoted to the larger model, and in 1847 a tent was erected on Bala Down, about two miles from Chard, and the model taken up one night by the workmen. The experiments were not so favourable as was expected. The machine could not support itself for any distance, but, when launched off, gradually descended, although the power and surface should have been ample; indeed, according to latest calculations, the thrust should have carried more than three times the weight, for there was a thrust of 5 lbs. from the propellers, and a surface of over 70 square feet to sustain under 30 lbs., but necessary speed was lacking. [...]
Henson, who had spent a considerable amount of money in these experimental constructions, consoled himself for failure by venturing into matrimony; in 1849 he went to America, leaving Stringfellow to continue experimenting alone. From 1846 to 1848 Stringfellow worked on what is really an epoch-making item in the history of aeronautics--the first engine-driven aeroplane which actually flew. [...]
The machine in question had a 10 foot span, and was 2 ft. across in the widest part of the wing; the length of tail was 3 ft. 6 ins., and the span of tail in the widest part 22 ins., the total sustaining area being about 14 sq. ft. The motive power consisted of an engine with a cylinder of three-quarter inch diameter and a two-inch stroke; between this and the crank shaft was a bevelled gear giving three revolutions of the propellers to every stroke of the engine; the propellers, right and left screw, were four-bladed and 16 inches in diameter. The total weight of the model with engine was 8 lbs. Its successful flight is ascribed to the fact that Stringfellow curved the wings, giving them rigid front edges and flexible trailing edges, as suggested long before both by Da Vinci and Borelli, but never before put into practice. Mr F. J. Stringfellow, in the pamphlet quoted above, gives the best account of the flight of this model:
'My father had constructed another small model which was finished early in 1848, and having the loan of a long room in a disused lace factory, early in June the small model was moved there for experiments. The room was about 22 yards long and from 10 to 12 ft. high.... The inclined wire for starting the machine occupied less than half the length of the room and left space at the end for the machine to clear the floor. In the first experiment the tail was set at too high an angle, and the machine rose too rapidly on leaving the wire. After going a few yards it slid back as if coming down an inclined plane, at such an angle that the point of the tail struck the ground and was broken. The tail was repaired and set at a smaller angle. The steam was again got up, and the machine started down the wire, and, upon reaching the point of self-detachment, it gradually rose until it reached the farther end of the room, striking a hole in the canvas placed to stop it. In experiments the machine flew well, when rising as much as one in seven. The late Rev. J. Riste, Esq., lace manufacturer, Northcote Spicer, Esq., J. Toms, Esq., and others witnessed experiments. Mr Marriatt, late of the San Francisco News Letter brought down from London Mr Ellis, the then lessee of Cremorne Gardens, Mr Partridge, and Lieutenant Gale, the aeronaut, to witness experiments. Mr Ellis offered to construct a covered way at Cremorne for experiments. Mr Stringfellow repaired to Cremorne, but not much better accommodations than he had at home were provided, owing to unfulfilled engagement as to room. Mr Stringfellow was preparing for departure when a party of gentlemen unconnected with the Gardens begged to see an experiment, and finding them able to appreciate his endeavours, he got up steam and started the model down the wire. When it arrived at the spot where it should leave the wire it appeared to meet with some obstruction, and threatened to come to the ground, but it soon recovered itself and darted off in as fair a flight as it was possible to make at a distance of about 40 yards, where it was stopped by the canvas. Having now demonstrated the practicability of making a steam-engine fly, and finding nothing but a pecuniary loss and little honour, this experimenter rested for a long time, satisfied with what he had effected. The subject, however, had to him special charms, and he still contemplated the renewal of his experiments.'
It appears that Stringfellow's interest did not revive sufficiently for the continuance of the experiments until the founding of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain in 1866. Wenham's paper on Aerial Locomotion read at the first meeting of the Society, which was held at the Society of Arts under the Presidency of the Duke of Argyll, was the means of bringing Stringfellow back into the field. It was Wenham's suggestion, in the first place, that monoplane design should be abandoned for the superposition of planes; acting on this suggestion Stringfellow constructed a model triplane, and also designed a steam engine of slightly over one horse-power, and a one horse-power copper boiler and fire box which, although capable of sustaining a pressure of 500 lbs. to the square inch, weighed only about 40 lbs. [...]
Both the engine and the triplane model were exhibited at the first Aeronautical Exhibition held at the Crystal Palace in 1868. The triplane had a supporting surface of 28 sq. ft.; inclusive of engine, boiler, fuel, and water its total weight was under 12 lbs. The engine worked two 21 in. propellers at 600 revolutions per minute, and developed 100 lbs. steam pressure in five minutes, yielding one-third horse-power. Since no free flight was allowed in the Exhibition, owing to danger from fire, the triplane was suspended from a wire in the nave of the building, and it was noted that, when running along the wire, the model made a perceptible lift. [end excerpt]
- John Stringfellow
- John Stringfellow, monoplane, 1848
- John Stringfellow, engine, 1848 Science Museum, London.
- John Stringfellow, engine, 1848
- John Stringfellow, 1848, modern replica, post card. Science Museum, London.
- John Stringfellow, monoplane, 3view, 1848
- Scientific American. Volume 4, Issue 1, p.4
Scientific American, inc. etc. September 23, 1848 New York
- William Henson's Aeriel Steam Carriage
- Scientific American. / New Series, Volume 20, Issue 11, p.69
Mar 13, 1869, New York
- John Stringfellow, Triplane, 1868
* "John Stringfellow 1799 - 1883" (1998, 2003, by Carroll Gray, flyingmachines.org/strng.html) [archive.is/mbQe] [begin excerpt]: The first result of Stringfellow's efforts was the 1848 machine shown below, which was powered by two contra-rotating propellers driven by one of Stringfellow's powerful and lightweight steam engines. The first attempt to fly the 10 foot wing span machine took place indoors, and a lack of proper balance resulted in a failure and damage to the machine. The second attempt was a rather wonderful success, for the flying machine left a guide wire and flew straight and true for about 30 feet.
John Stringfellow and his son Frederick J. Stringfellow collaborated on the experiments and built a number of flying machines together and individually. Perhaps the most famous of John Stringfellow's machines was his steam powered triplane of 1868, which was exhibited at the Crystal Palace in London, England. The superimposition of wing surfaces was an idea which Stringfellow borrowed from Francis Wenham. Except for the lack of a vertical tail surface, it is the very image of an early aeroplane. It was tested a number of times while at the Crystal Palace and did, on occasion, manage to leave the guide wire and fly for a distance. This very flying machine (the steam engine of which won first prize at the Crystal Palace exhibition) is on display in the Early Flight Gallery of the National Air & Space Museum, Washington, D. C. Frederick J. Stringfellow built his own flying machine in 1868 also, a steam powered twin-propeller tandem-winged monoplane, and it too was displayed at the Crystal Palace. [end excerpt]
- image caption: Stringfellow's First Steam Engine Powered Flying Machine - 1848
- image caption: Stringfellow's Steam Engine Powered Large Model Triplane On Display At The Crystal Palace, London, England - 1868
- image caption: Rear View Of Stringfellow's Steam Engine Powered Large Model Triplane On Display At The Crystal Palace, London, England - 1868
- image caption: Frederick J. Stringfellow's Steam Engine Powered Large Model Biplane - 1868
* "Frederick Marriott 1804 - 1884" (1998, 2006, by Carroll Gray, flyingmachines.org/marav.html) [archive.is/zWakz] [begin excerpt]: While in his native England Frederick Marriott worked with William S. Henson and John Stringfellow, securing publicity for their aerial efforts which included the Henson Aerial Steam Carriage. In 1850, Marriott left England for the wilds of Gold-Rush Era California. A skilled publicist, journalist and editor, in 1856 he established the San Francisco News Letter and California Advertiser. Not surprisingly, Marriott continued to mix his skill as a publicist with his interest in aerial enterprises after he relocated to California. For years he solicited funds to build the Avitor Hermes, Jr., a slightly-heavier-than-air airship, which weighed 84 pounds when not inflated and which weighed between 4 and 10 pounds when inflated.
The Avitor Hermes, Jr., was powered by a steam engine, having one 2" diameter cylinder with a 3" stroke, which was capable of generating 8 pounds of steam. The engine drove two two-bladed 4 ft.-diameter propellers, each mounted within one of two flat wings. The Avitor Hermes, Jr., 37 feet long and 14 feet in overall width, was designed as the test version of what would have been a passenger-carrying airship. On July 2, 1869, the 1,360 cu. ft. Avitor Hermes, Jr., was tested under power on a tether at Marriott's Avitor Works, located adjacent to Shell Mound Lake near present-day Millbrae, just south of San Francisco. There was at least one test inside the Avitor Works' large building that day, which was described by an eyewitness:
"While yet the machine remained, as it were, perfectly dormant, resting upon the floor with less than sufficient buoyancy to raise itself - requiring additional aid to relieve it from connection with earth - the machinery was put in motion and the propellers commenced their revolutions. At once life was imparted to the whole body, and it rose promptly and gracefully and took its flight into the air under guidance of the rudder, thus establishing the astounding fact that it had power and could fly, and giving proof that the grand problem had been solved. The carriage mounted nearly to the roof with a firmness and steadiness equal to the movements of an ocean-steamer on smooth water."
- English Mechanic and Mirror of Science September 3, 1869
"The morning was beautiful and still - scarcely a breath of air stirring. the conditions were favorable to success. The gasometer was fully inflated and the model was floated out of the building. In six minutes steam was got up - the rudder set to give a slight curve to the course of the vessel - and the valves opened. With the first turn of the propellers she rose slowly into the air, gradually increasing her speed until the rate of five miles per hour was attained. The position of the rudder caused her to describe a great circle, around which she passed twice, occupying about five minutes each time. Lines had been fastened to both bow and stern, which held by two men, who followed her track, had sufficient ado to keep up with her at a dog trot."
- Scientific American July 31, 1869
There was also one tethered test outdoors on July 2, 1869, during which Avitor Hermes, Jr., completed two half-mile circles at a speed of 5 - 6 m.p.h. [end excerpt]
- image caption: Avitor Hermes, Jr. - July 1869
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* "Remote Piloted Aerial Vehicles: An Anthology" (ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/rpav_home.html) [archive.is/ZBBS] [begin excerpt]:
Well before the race for wireless telegraphy and as far back as 1893 in St. Nikola Tesla demonstrated remote control of objects by wireless. This was two full years before Marconi began his experiments. His demonstrations of remote control climaxed in an exhibition in 1898 at Madison Square Garden in which Tesla caused a small boat (right) to obey commands from the audience. Of course, it was Tesla interpreting the verbal requests and sending appropriate frequencies to tuned circuits in the miniature ship, but to the audience it was magic.
To the press, Tesla prophesied a future in which telautomatons (robots) did man's bidding, perhaps some day exceeding mankind. Tesla had already decided that men were "meat machines", responding only to stimuli and incapable of free will, so to him the succession of man by machine seemed less preposterous. He also chose to join others in the race to use America's newfound technological superiority to devastate the Spanish in the the Spanish-American War. He offered his remote controlled boat to the military as a new kind of "smart-torpedo" that would make war so terrible nations would cease to wage it.
- Nikola Tesla with his wireless controlled airship c.1900
[...]
Gabet and his 'Torpille Radio-Automatique', 1909 -
